Lem was interrupted from reading the latest damage reports by a knock on the door of his quarters. He rubbed his eyes and pushed his hair back from his face.
"Come in" He said.
The door slid open and 241 ducked his head to come in. "I have the slipspace drive repair assessments you wanted, sir," the Spartan said quietly.
Lem looked up, Sean's uniform wasn't rumpled for once. "I suppose there's no point in adding another disciplinary action to your file. People are going to talk." Lem said.
241 shot him an amused look.
" I didn't expect that for another two hours." Lem held out his hand as 241 passed them over. It wasn't clear whether it was intentional or now that their fingers touched.
"There wasn't much to report" The Spartan replied. "The slipspace drive is in pretty poor condition, even with the salvage parts. " He paused as if for effect, " and its leaking beta particles."
"Wonderful a sitting duck with a leash" Lem flashed the Spartan a weak smile. 241 returned it. "Dismissed" He said finally.
The Spartan turned to go, a slight shift in his shoulders; Lem knew the telltale signs of moving from one compartment to another.
The Spartan turned back towards him. Lem looked up.
"Pete?" Sean's voice was hesitant, asking permission to use Lem's first name; when he didn't receive a reprimand, he continued, "Can I stay here tonight?"
Lem blinked, surprised, Sean rarely asked permission for anything in their confusing little affair, unless it was in sarcasm. If the Spartan wanted to stay the night, which was the rarest of the rare, Lem would find him having broken the door lock, even if the room was sealed, and stretched out, his feet hanging over the edge of the bed that was too small for either of them, let alone both of them. Then it would be only minutes before one of them, depending on who was more tired, ended up pinned face down on the bed or desk.
Lem put his papers and Sean's report aside. "Sure" He said quietly "Sure you can. I'll come to bed." He caught a flash of a faint relieved smile from Sean.
"You haven't slept since the crash" Sean said quietly, The Spartan sat down on the bed and unbuttoned his shirt cuffs. He had dark bruises around his wrists from the hydrostatics in the joints of his MJOLNIR armor.
"Neither have you" Lem replied, he reached out and started to unbutton Sean's shirt for him.
"I'm still mad at you" Sean looked down his Lem's fingers working their way down the front of his shirt.
Lem leaned forward; his forehead bumped against Sean's, their mouths were so close they almost touched. "And which one of you is that?" a smile tugging at the edges of his mouth as he finished unbuttoning the Spartan's shirt.
"Eat shit and die Pete" Sean replied as Lem pushed the shirt off his bruised shoulders. There was a faint smile on his mouth.
Lem ran his fingers along Sean's scared, bruised cheek, they kissed, teeth, tongue, both of them trying to suck as much comfort and reassurance out of the other. It was a strange quiet little closeness in a relationship that by necessity lacked all intimacy.